Wednesday 30 October 2013
Research into single covers
All genre single covers
These are some single covers for various artists from different genres.
All of them but the 'Two Door Cinema Club' cover features a picture of the artist. This links to Richard Dyer's "Star Theory" as the focus of the album cover is on the artist themselves, so it is promoting the stars identity as well as the song.
The 'Two Door Cinema Club' single cover is a picture of a fortune teller ball/crystal ball. The song is titled 'Next Year', so the picture links to the song title as the ball is predicting the future. Two Door Cinema Club are an Indie band and generally single covers for Indie bands do not feature a picture of the artist, so this single cover is expected.
Indie single covers
All of these single covers have features in common...
These are some single covers for various artists from different genres.
All of them but the 'Two Door Cinema Club' cover features a picture of the artist. This links to Richard Dyer's "Star Theory" as the focus of the album cover is on the artist themselves, so it is promoting the stars identity as well as the song.
The 'Two Door Cinema Club' single cover is a picture of a fortune teller ball/crystal ball. The song is titled 'Next Year', so the picture links to the song title as the ball is predicting the future. Two Door Cinema Club are an Indie band and generally single covers for Indie bands do not feature a picture of the artist, so this single cover is expected.
Indie single covers
All of these single covers have features in common...
- None of them contain a picture of the artist.
- Feature mostly dull colours such as blue, grey, black - therefore they don't really stand out.
- Most of them feature either an abstract picture or a picture that looks old/has a vintage feel to it.
Indie singles typically have a different vibe to them in comparison to other genres of music, they look cool and random. When my group are creating the digipack for our music video we will take these features into consideration.
Tuesday 29 October 2013
Music Industry Research
Stardom - Richard Dyer's Star Theory
There's a significant difference between a "Pop Performer" and a "Pop Star". A Pop performer is famously known only for their music, whereas a Pop star is known for their personality, style, fashion and behaviour as well as their music - pop stars have a persona.
Pop stars are promoted to this "status" by their management, this is done by the artist attending events such as award shows/premieres, by having newspaper stories on them, or having a famous boyfriend/girlfriend. A true pop star has a lasting significance and will still be remembered for years to come, eg - Michael Jackson, Britney Spears.
The Kooks are not pop stars as they produce Indie-Pop music, therefore they are not marketed in this way as the audience that they appeal to do not want them to have extreme 'star status'. Many fans of Indie music like to feel like their favourite artists don't have a huge fan base, this makes the fan feel like they belong to a small fan community/and they can gain a sense of belonging (Uses and Gratifications theory - McQuail)
Dyer proposes that a star is an image that is constructed out of a range of materials e.g. - magazines, appearances etc. 'Stars'/artists are created to serve a purpose, and that purpose is to make money out of their music. Record companies will shape artists and market them in a certain way in order for them appeal to a specific target audience, examples include Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus.
On the other hand there are audiences that will reject these artists/the pop genre, so the music industry has to provide artists who are perceived as real and genuine, for example Indie bands like The Vaccines and The Arctic Monkeys.
The Kooks are one of these bands that are perceived as being real; although they belong to a record label and are probably 'shaped' slightly by them in order for them to fully appeal to their audience, the band give the impression that they do/act how they want.
There's a significant difference between a "Pop Performer" and a "Pop Star". A Pop performer is famously known only for their music, whereas a Pop star is known for their personality, style, fashion and behaviour as well as their music - pop stars have a persona.
Pop stars are promoted to this "status" by their management, this is done by the artist attending events such as award shows/premieres, by having newspaper stories on them, or having a famous boyfriend/girlfriend. A true pop star has a lasting significance and will still be remembered for years to come, eg - Michael Jackson, Britney Spears.
The Kooks are not pop stars as they produce Indie-Pop music, therefore they are not marketed in this way as the audience that they appeal to do not want them to have extreme 'star status'. Many fans of Indie music like to feel like their favourite artists don't have a huge fan base, this makes the fan feel like they belong to a small fan community/and they can gain a sense of belonging (Uses and Gratifications theory - McQuail)
Dyer proposes that a star is an image that is constructed out of a range of materials e.g. - magazines, appearances etc. 'Stars'/artists are created to serve a purpose, and that purpose is to make money out of their music. Record companies will shape artists and market them in a certain way in order for them appeal to a specific target audience, examples include Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus.
On the other hand there are audiences that will reject these artists/the pop genre, so the music industry has to provide artists who are perceived as real and genuine, for example Indie bands like The Vaccines and The Arctic Monkeys.
The Kooks are one of these bands that are perceived as being real; although they belong to a record label and are probably 'shaped' slightly by them in order for them to fully appeal to their audience, the band give the impression that they do/act how they want.
Friday 25 October 2013
Video of our group meeting
This is a video of our group meeting in which we discussed various reasons for why we decided to choose the song 'She Moves In Her Own Way' by The Kooks.
Monday 21 October 2013
Analysis of single cover for 'She Moves In Her Own Way'
This is the official single cover for the song that my group are using.
The picture is in black and white which gives the cover a vintage feel and suggests that the song is going to be of an Indie genre.
The actual picture suggests that the song is going to involve a girl as the man in the picture is holding a flower towards the camera, presumably what he is going to give to the woman.
Indie single covers tend to have an abstract image on or a quirky image of a person - this single cover conforms to this convention of the Indie genre.
The blue font for 'She Moves In Her Own Way' stands out, however it doesn't take any attention away from the picture.
In my opinion I don't think the single cover as a whole stands out, if I was in a shop I don't think I'd notice it because of the black and white colours. I think this was done on purpose though because the song is by an Indie band so they wouldn't of wanted to have a mainstream single cover that is loud and stands out.
The picture is in black and white which gives the cover a vintage feel and suggests that the song is going to be of an Indie genre.
The actual picture suggests that the song is going to involve a girl as the man in the picture is holding a flower towards the camera, presumably what he is going to give to the woman.
Indie single covers tend to have an abstract image on or a quirky image of a person - this single cover conforms to this convention of the Indie genre.
The blue font for 'She Moves In Her Own Way' stands out, however it doesn't take any attention away from the picture.
In my opinion I don't think the single cover as a whole stands out, if I was in a shop I don't think I'd notice it because of the black and white colours. I think this was done on purpose though because the song is by an Indie band so they wouldn't of wanted to have a mainstream single cover that is loud and stands out.
Wednesday 16 October 2013
Monday 14 October 2013
Genre conventions of an Indie music video
Aftr watching many Indie music videos I have created a list of genre conventions that most Indie videos use/follow...
- Dim low lit locations
- Locations with a mysterious feel to them
- Performance scenes
- Narrative
- Low colour saturation - this gives the video it's 'vintage' feel
- Emphasis on the band/artists Indie style - skinny jeans, baggy tee, messy hair
- Certain behaviour such as smoking, drinking alcohol and sex
- Not too serious, often scenes with the band/artist acting silly, eg - comical dancing
Here are some examples of Indie music videos that use these conventions..
Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High? - Arctic MonkeysThis music video features dark settings.
Someday - The StrokesThis music video contains particular behaviour eg - smoking and drinking.
Changing of the Seasons - Two Door Cinema ClubThis video is both performance and narrative. It is also all in Black and White which makes the music video seem older than it actually is.
Carried Away - Passion PitThis music video is purely narrative. There is emphasis on the style of the actors in the video, eg - man has messy hair and wears old suits.
Audience for our music video
Myself and Molly decided to research who the audience for our music video will be and we decided that it will be targeted at...
- Targeted at both males and females
- Age range 16-21
- Young people that listen to Indie (Pop) music
- Generally aimed at White British young people because of the actors, but not specifically aimed at them
- Targeting people that live/from the UK
- Working to middle class (because of the setting, props and costume)
- Not specific to any religion
- Aimed at people from urban backgrounds AND rural backgrounds as we are going to be using a rural/field setting and a recording studio
- It will be set in the Midlands/North but it isn't specific to people that live in this part of the UK
Survey results
After receiving back all of the surveys we analysed the data and found that.....
The majority of the surveys were completed by 17 year olds(16 out of 19) - 10 male and 9 female.
We found that all females that completed the survey listen to Indie music. However, not all males do (2 don't listen to it at all).
When asked how long have they have been listening to Indie music for, it was found that the majority of respondents (male and female) have been listening to it for 2-4 years (9 respondents).
When asked if they watch music videos often 6 males and 6 females answered 'Yes', and the other respondents answered 'No'. This finding surprised me as I personally thought that more people would frequently watch music videos.
Our results show that females believe that music videos have a significant importance in adding to the meaning of a song - 8 out of 9 females circled the number 3 or higher in regards to how important the respondent felt they were, 1 being not very important and 5 being extremely important.
The results show that males do not find music videos to be as important as females do - This was something that I expected to see in the results.
An interesting finding was that when asked 'Do music videos influence your opinion on a song?' the male and female answers were very contrasting. All males responded with either 'Sometimes' (3 respondents) or 'Rarely' (7 respondents), whereas the majority of the females answered 'Sometimes' (6 respondents) and the others answering with 'Always' (2 respondents) or 'Rarely' (1 respondent). This result shows that music videos influence females opinions on a song more than they influence males opinions. This finding is useful because our groups music video is going to be targeted at males and females, so because we are targeting females we need to make sure that the video is targeted at them in the right way.
The majority of the surveys were completed by 17 year olds(16 out of 19) - 10 male and 9 female.
We found that all females that completed the survey listen to Indie music. However, not all males do (2 don't listen to it at all).
When asked how long have they have been listening to Indie music for, it was found that the majority of respondents (male and female) have been listening to it for 2-4 years (9 respondents).
When asked if they watch music videos often 6 males and 6 females answered 'Yes', and the other respondents answered 'No'. This finding surprised me as I personally thought that more people would frequently watch music videos.
Our results show that females believe that music videos have a significant importance in adding to the meaning of a song - 8 out of 9 females circled the number 3 or higher in regards to how important the respondent felt they were, 1 being not very important and 5 being extremely important.
The results show that males do not find music videos to be as important as females do - This was something that I expected to see in the results.
An interesting finding was that when asked 'Do music videos influence your opinion on a song?' the male and female answers were very contrasting. All males responded with either 'Sometimes' (3 respondents) or 'Rarely' (7 respondents), whereas the majority of the females answered 'Sometimes' (6 respondents) and the others answering with 'Always' (2 respondents) or 'Rarely' (1 respondent). This result shows that music videos influence females opinions on a song more than they influence males opinions. This finding is useful because our groups music video is going to be targeted at males and females, so because we are targeting females we need to make sure that the video is targeted at them in the right way.
Research survey
Our group created a survey that we distributed to 19 students that attend our Sixth Form.
The aim of the survey was to collect information on the target audience for our music video. We asked a variety of students(not just our friends) that have different music tastes and are aged 16-18 so that our research is valid.
This is the survey -
The aim of the survey was to collect information on the target audience for our music video. We asked a variety of students(not just our friends) that have different music tastes and are aged 16-18 so that our research is valid.
This is the survey -
Wednesday 2 October 2013
Textual Analysis of 'Shine On' by The Kooks
My first textual analysis of a music video is going to be of 'Shine On' by The Kooks. I have chosen to analyse this particular music video because the song is by the same artist that me and my group are using for our A2 coursework.
The song was released in July 2008 and reached number 63 in the UK Singles Chart.
3) There is a relationship between music and visuals - The song has a laid back, simple feel to it which is shown through the visuals. For example - there isn't a complicated story that accompanies the song, it's simply the lead singer singing about a girl and looking at her. The music video is easy and pleasant to watch, just as the song is to listen to.
5) Frequent reference to the notion of looking, and voyeuristic treatment of the female body - There is some reference to the notion of looking as the lead singer is often seen looking at the female in the music video. However there is no voyeuristic treatment of the female body at all, the female in the video is seen throughout but she is seen innocently sleeping throughout the majority of the music video - this is completely opposite to what Goodwin's theory suggests.
Here is the official music video -
The song was released in July 2008 and reached number 63 in the UK Singles Chart.
The first shot is a close up shot of a window from the inside of a house, the camera then tracks out to show a cat asleep on a bed. The mise-en-scene such as the cat and the flower pot in the window make it clear that the music video is set in a house. The house is the only setting used in the music video, it has a quirky feel to it because of the bright floral wallpaper - this quirkiness is expected with indie music videos.
This mid shot is the first shot that properly introduces the main singer of the band. The lighting for this shot is very dark which still doesn't make the artists identity clear to the audience. The singer is shown lip syncing to the song while the camera slowly tracks in towards the artist.
The music video features some ducks which don't have an apparent purpose for being in the video, this
element of mise-en-scene makes it clear that the video is supposed to be light hearted and fun to watch. The lead singer is shown dancing in a silly manner, this also contributes to the atmosphere of the video. This distinct feel to the music video emphasises that the genre of it is Indie. One feature of a typical Indie music video is to have a random element to it, towards the end of the video the floors start to become flooded by water and the band perform in the flooded setting, this gives the video its random feel.
Linking to Andrew Goodwin's theory of genre conventions of the music video, this music video does use some of the conventions of the theory.
1) Different genres of music demonstrate their own music video conventions - The genre of this song is Indie Pop. Usually in a Indie Pop video there is a mix of narrative and performance based shots.This music video contains both of these conventions, however there isn't much of a storyline to the video.
2) There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals - There isn't really a present relationship between the lyrics and visuals apart from the lyrics "But you still read", the shot accompanying these lyrics is of a bookcase. The lyrics "Shine On" are repeated a lot throughout the song which could link to the lighting in the video - the lighting in the shots tend to look quite dull which contrasts with the bright lighting in some shots coming from lamps. The lyrics could be linked to the lights shining.
3) There is a relationship between music and visuals - The song has a laid back, simple feel to it which is shown through the visuals. For example - there isn't a complicated story that accompanies the song, it's simply the lead singer singing about a girl and looking at her. The music video is easy and pleasant to watch, just as the song is to listen to.
4) Many close ups of the artist to emphasise the image of the star - There are many close up shots of the lead singer, however I don't feel that the purpose of this is to place emphasis on the star. With Indie Pop bands there isn't the need for the band/artist to look good or look like a star as the focus is mainly on the music that the band produce.
5) Frequent reference to the notion of looking, and voyeuristic treatment of the female body - There is some reference to the notion of looking as the lead singer is often seen looking at the female in the music video. However there is no voyeuristic treatment of the female body at all, the female in the video is seen throughout but she is seen innocently sleeping throughout the majority of the music video - this is completely opposite to what Goodwin's theory suggests.
6) There are often intertextual references to films, other music videos etc - There are no intertextual references.
Here is the official music video -
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